Publicity Party
by WolfoftheMoonStorm
Summary: He was sick of it. Utterly and completely tired and drained beyond human limits. Part of him wondered if he had only lasted so long because of Extremis; maybe it affected his patience levels or his personality without him noticing. Just a little one-shot of Tony attending a party that neither him nor his friends feel like staying at any longer.


He was sick of it. Utterly and completely tired and drained beyond human limits. Part of him wondered if he had only lasted so long because of Extremis; maybe it affected his patience levels or his personality without him noticing. He dismissed the notion, his head too sore to actually think about something- and that was a close first. So, of course he leaned against the wall and kept his expression as smooth as he could, but judging from the glances he got from Rhodey and Pepper every minute or so he was not succeeding. And now his plan to simply hide in his little corner and draw little attention to himself and _hope with all his might _that he could control his impatience was shot. Beyond shot. He was tempted to break out the Mark II and just _go_. Anything would be better than fending off the glances from _every damn guest in the room._ So he thought he could just wait till no one was watching and vanish straight out the front doors and go back to his lab and finish some upgrades on the armor and then apologize in the morning- if he came back.

And now even that plan was threatened to be trampled into the dust. But he at least had someone _else _to blame this time. The person who was watching him _very intently_ in an effort to make sure his plan did not succeed. Tony would love to see him try.

The person of his newly acquired irritation was none other than his own father- Howard Stark. He had, but some means that slipped past Tony yet _again_, managed to convince him to attend some party for Stark International. But this was a whole new level. He had been content to deal with employee parties, or bring-you-family days, but this was just _ten thousand million times worse_. He had been tricked, yet again by his own father, into not asking exactly how many people would be attending. If he hadn't been using Extremis to find out _exactly how many people lived in this god forsaken city_ he would have thought that Howard Stark had invited them all- which he probably did and some people were probably busy with their _lives, _so thank god for that. But that was still not enough, and he marveled at how even Pepper, _Pepper_, seemed to be becoming daunted at how many glances were shot in her direction and Rhodey seemed to be losing his patience with a tall man who was apparently bombarding him with questions. Questions about being War Machine, which the entire planet had discovered about 3 weeks ago, along with the identities of Iron Man and Rescue. Which is why this party was being held, because the board thought it was great for their image, especially now that Stark Solutions had officially claimed to be partnering with Stark International- which in turn meant that _Iron Man, War Machine, and Rescue_ supported Stark International and _apparently had to be tricked into publicity parties._

Which led him back to his current problem.

Tony Stark had what he was sure was a migraine from going four days without sleep of nonstop work in the lab (which he did not mind) to attending a rather loud party and being chased after by his ever increasing fan girls (which he _did_ mind, as he was drop dead tired) and harassed with questions about everything _Team Iron Man_. He desperately wanted two screwdrivers right now. They would be wonderful for _gouging out his ear drums_. The lights were starting to hurt his eyes and both he and Rhodey had helped Pepper chase off a higher number of boys than Tony Stark could count. Quite simply, he was pissed. As Rhodey now was and as Pepper now was as they both stormed over to him, possibly to chew him out for the death glare that he was giving _every person in the vicinity_ without noticing.

Of course, he had a _very special _glare reserved for his father who was throwing constant apologetic looks in their direction. It promised _a lot_ of payback from the three vengeful teens, and Howard Stark, ever the genius father, had the common courtesy to look apprehensive. Of course, this satisfied Tony to no end as he was already plotting quite the _entertaining day_ for his father.

Mildly put, Tony Stark was not a _crowd person _and he had reached his limits a long time ago. A few moments later Rhodey and Pepper joined Tony in shooting _the look_ at Stark Sr., much to his increasing worry.

"Enough with the death glares, Tony. Half the guests look like they're expecting Iron Man to evaluate them at the same threat level as the Makluan." Rhodey half-joked. Tony simply snorted and replied to his friend, "I'm getting there." Which, much to his surprise, received an agreeing mumble from the ginger girl next to him.

Tony wasted no time in identifying that his father had apparently detected his intent of _vanishing from the party for good_, and leading his two best friends through the crowd and closer to the door before hiding in a familiar crevice and watching a now puzzled Howard go by. Rhodey and Pepper, as eager to leave as him at this point, followed his path as he wove invisibly through the crowd (perfecting this little trick after _a lot_ of practice) and neared the doors, already using Extremis to call all three suits of armor here, as his father _and _ the council had insisted on the suits being left behind for today; probably in an attempt to prevent the three skilled teens from blasting the building apart- not that they ever would (but the board doesn't _need _to know that…).

They slipped out the door and wasted no time in putting on the three newly-arrived and weaponized 'escape pods' and blasting off as fast as their repulsors could go, unfortunately drawing the attention of a now irritated Howard Stark. As well as every person inside, much to the crowds' delight.

"Your dad is going to kill us when we get back." Rhodey commented, the usual voice of reason. Pepper laughed, "For ditching a party that even he doesn't want to make us be at?" Rhodey and Pepper fell quiet for a moment, suddenly feeling off at the lack of Tony's usual witty commentary, until the sound of a slight snore came from within the now auto piloted Iron Man Mark II armor. "Typical, he fell asleep." Rhodey yawned, but shortly after both of the other party-weary pilots slipped into their own dozes, only to be rudely awakened by Tony's father using his access into the communications system to threaten them in every way possible to _get back here now._ Which was promptly ignored and the call ended, and the three teens wasted no time in exiting the suits of armor and returning them to their places before locking the lab and closing their eyes to get some sleep- until Howard cracked the lock on the door.

Late in the afternoon when they finally exited the lab and returned home, the parents remained quiet about the entire episode; as did Howard (with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes) during the next board meeting, much to the holograms' irritation.


End file.
